Nutritional analysis and evaluation of fruits of Phyllanthus emblica

Abstract:【Objective】To study the difference of nutrition composition and the nutritive quality of fruits of different cultivars of Phyllanthus emblica in order to provide scientific basis for the effective and comprehensive processing of Phyllanthus emblica fruits.【Methods】The fruits of nine different cultivars of Phyllanthus emblica were used as materials.Among them, four cultivars ('TZ1''BLG1''Tetian'and'Lanfeng No.1') were collected from Fujian province, five cultivars from Guangdong province, ('Rongtian''Tianzhong''Boligan''Qingpi''Binggan') .The fresh mature fruit samples were collected from four directions of each tree from mid-September to mid-October.The fruits were conserved in cryogenic refrigerator (-80 ℃) .The determinations of the content of 16 nutrient contents were carried out according to the national standards.Principal component analysis and cluster analysis method were used to analysis and evaluate the fruit nutritional quality.【Results】There was a significant difference in the nutritive composition of the fruits of different cultivars and regions.The fruits were generally high in potassium, magnesium and vitamin C content.'Binggan'and'Lanfeng No.1'had higher content of vitamin C and the average content was 1 632.9 mg·kg-1.'Qingpi'had the highest content of potassium and'Tianzhong'had the lowest content.The average was 1 385.47 mg·kg-1.There were some correlations between the various nutrients in the fruits.The crude fiber content was significantly and negatively correlated with water and significantly and positively related to starch, crude ash and potassium content.The protein content was positively correlated with coarse ash, copper, zinc, iron, citric acid and vitamin B1.The water content was negatively related to various nutrient elements.The content was positively correlated with copper content, andwas negatively correlated with vitamin B2.The coarse ash was positively related to potassium and iron and positively correlated with citric acid.There was a significant negative correlation between magnesium and zinc iron, and positive correlation between the content of iron and copper.There was a significant negative correlation between tartaric acid and copper, magnesium and oxalic acid, and the content of oxalic acid and zinc.The content of citric acid was positively correlated with copper, iron and zinc content.Vitamin C content was significantly negatively correlated with citric acid and iron content, and vitamin B1 was significantly and positively correlated with vitamin B2.Principal component analysis showed that the characteristic values of the top five principal component were over 1, the variance of contribution rates of the first to fifth principal components were 32.189%, 23.688%, 15.699%, 12.568% and 7.43% respectively.The cumulative variance contribution rate was 91.555%, illustrating that the five principal components reflected the most parts of the original variables.The comprehensive evaluation function was set as F=0.322 Z1+0.237 Z2+0.157 Z3+0.126 Z4+0.074 Z5.The order of total score in the top 5 were 'Qingpi'' Lanfeng No.1' 'Tianzhong' 'Boligan' and 'Rongtian'.Among them, four cultivars were collected from Guangdong province, indicating that the nutritive quality of Phyllanthus emblica subspecies of Guangdong province was superior to that of Fujian.9 cultivars were divided into four categories by cluster analysis.The first category included'Tetian''BLG1''TZ1', the second group included'Lanfeng No.1'and'Qingpi', the third group included'Rongtian''Binggan', and the fourth group included'Rongtian'and'Boligan'.Two varieties of the highest comprehensive quality, 'Qingpi' and 'Lanfeng No.1', were selected by the main component analysis, this class contained higher mineral potassium, magnesium and iron, which could be potentially used as mineral extraction and nutrient additives.They were also rich in vitamin C, potentially suitable for making cosmetics and healthy food.The results of cluster analysis and main components were basically consistent.【Conclusion】The nutrient contents of the fruits of different cultivars of Phyllanthus emblica were significantly different.There were some correlations between the components of the fruits.The comprehensive quality of the fruits of 'Qingpi' and 'Lanfeng No.1' were highest, which could be potentially suitable for the making functional products.